Rockford Doctor Takes Medical Mission Trip to Ecuador

Doctor
Fred Sweet says "it's really a religious avocation for me to go to help people
who don't otherwise have the ability to get help."

Sweet
along with thirty seven volunteers treated more then six hundred patients.
Those patients likely would not have gotten medical care without their visit.

Sweet
says "places in Ecuador
and other third world countries, they can travel hundreds of miles and there
may not even be a hospital or to be turned away. They just don't have any
capability to get any medical care at all.

In
an effort to provide preventive healthcare, each patient was given two months worth
of hygiene products, and lessons on washing their hands.

Sweet
says "the problem in this culture and society, it's very hard for them to
maintain basic hygiene that we think of. Most of them have never seen a bar of
soap.

Doctor
Sweet says it's a huge reminder that basic healthcare should not be taken for
granted.

Sweet
says "compared to some of the world countries, our poorest of poor have it
unbelievable good. They can go to the emergency room whether they have money or
not and eventually be seen."

The
trip was a life changing experience for everybody involved.

Sweet
says "a lot of the college kids that went down there with us, I told them
several times you're really benefitting from this more then the people we're
serving."

For more information on medical missions and how you can help out please visit. www.medicalmissions.com